POLL...Trade Difficulty

[PSUColonel]

Which do you use?

[r0nster]

I do neutral or favors prospects ..... for me lately I been trying to build up my farm club of which I been doing good with lately. Ending up to saving money as well.

[r0nster]

should add I just stick with what the game already set it at

[24Rocks]

For most realistic Very Hard/ Neutral cause its for the whole AI and rebuilding teams rarely if ever give up prospects unless getting one in return so making them favor more means the win now teams are looking for younger players then they should and vice versa, I normally play at hard or neutral to start and after a few years very hard it is the most realistic less way to cheat teams out of good players.

[JMDurron]

So, the poll question and the text of the post don't seem to match. I use the default settings, but I have no idea what the "most realistic modern MLB experience" even is for trading. Somehow you'd have to encompass every GM type and level of intelligence to even define that, so I'm just rolling with what I enjoy.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by JMDurron

So, the poll question and the text of the post don't seem to match. I use the default settings, but I have no idea what the "most realistic modern MLB experience" even is for trading. Somehow you'd have to encompass every GM type and level of intelligence to even define that, so I'm just rolling with what I enjoy.

Yeah, I noticed the mismatch, too. Yet, the point is to enjoy the realistic portrayal of professional baseball, so perhaps they are not too far apart. In my case, I am going with Hard/Neutral because the game is too easy to dominate on anything less (Hard) and I don't want to rig the game by making the AI favor one thing or another, and knowing what that is (Neutral).

[CBL-Commish]

I think I have mine set to hard/favor prospects. My experience is that it's almost impossible to trade with it set higher than that. Even as it is when I click on the "make it work" button the AI only asks for my youngest/cheapest/most valuable players in almost every deal, even for journeymen and low-star players.

I can see intentionally handicapping yourself to avoid exploiting the AI, but I'm already managing a team with the smallest market in a 3rd major league that has smaller-than-MLB markets in most cases. So I think I'm operating at enough of a disadvantage.

[hluraven]

Very Hard/Neutral. Favor prospects makes it very easy and even on very hard you can get blatant steals if you work at it. The annoyance with Very Hard is that shop a player never returns anyone, but if you then go in to the trade you can get good deals.

[TribeFanInNC]

I've never had the forethought or extreme dedication to try this, but it has been proposed by others to change the setting at different points to emulate what happens IRL. I think Very Hard/Favor Prospects works well for much of the year, but certain times like the trade deadline call for Hard/Favor Vets. Spring Training might also call for a different setting.

Though truthfully, the only thing that really works is house rules.

[PSUColonel]

Bump

[Hawkguy]

I don't know what I'm playing on - I think it's default.

But the trades are horrible. I put Mark DeRosa on the block.. and Texas offered Derek Holland. wtf?

I'm new to this game but this is awkward.

[Bowtie]

Originally Posted by hluraven

Very Hard/Neutral. Favor prospects makes it very easy and even on very hard you can get blatant steals if you work at it. The annoyance with Very Hard is that shop a player never returns anyone, but if you then go in to the trade you can get good deals.

I mostly use hard/neutral. Sometimes I may use hard/favor prospects. It just depends on what I'm shopping for. I have a "house rule" that average and below settings are off limits as it's too easy to exploit the AI.

Speaking of shop a player, I only use that for making minor league trades. If I see anyone I think can fill a hole in my minors I will work out a trade.

[mattb_222]

I usually shop a player in neutral then move to hard for actual trades. I still have to employ some "house rules" to make sure I'm not ripping off the AI

Sort of something funny related to this house rules idea: I was shopping a pretty decent outfield prospect and the Nats offered me Bryce Harper straight up. This was one of the times when I employed the rules and didn't make that trade. As it has turned out, Harper has been an injury riddled bench player and my decent prospect has been a solid starter on my perennial playoff contender. I guess you just never know...

[JMDurron]

Originally Posted by mattb_222

I usually shop a player in neutral then move to hard for actual trades. I still have to employ some "house rules" to make sure I'm not ripping off the AI

Sort of something funny related to this house rules idea: I was shopping a pretty decent outfield prospect and the Nats offered me Bryce Harper straight up. This was one of the times when I employed the rules and didn't make that trade. As it has turned out, Harper has been an injury riddled bench player and my decent prospect has been a solid starter on my perennial playoff contender. I guess you just never know...

This is a handy illustration of the point that, as soon as you load a league in OOTP, whether MLB Quickstart or Historical, the players you recognize are really nothing other than fictional players with initial abilities based on the real person. Bryce Harper and Derek Holland may not really be who you think they are once you start playing.